Feature: Film Guide

Holiday Film Guide 2007

Three rodents singing, two monsters fighting and a senator in a bad war

By Devin D. O’Leary

Happy Thanksgiving! Merry Christmas! Now get yourself to a movie theater. This holiday season is crammed with cinematic gifts, from the silly (Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story) to the sappy (P.S., I Love You). We’ve got epic fantasies (The Golden Compass), musical slasher films (Sweeney Todd) and animated biopics (Persepolis). We’ve got the work of famed directors like Francis Ford Coppola (Youth Without Youth), Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood) and Woody Allen (Cassandra’s Dream). We’ve also got Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem. Surely there’s something for everyone to savor.Keep in mind that all opening dates are subject to change.

Nov. 21

August RushStars: Freddie Highmore, Robin WilliamsThis semi-musical, semi-retelling of Oliver Twist finds a young musical savant searching for his birth parents in New York.EnchantedStars: Amy Adams, Patrick DempseyDisney makes fun of itself with this half-live-action, half-animated story of a fairy tale princess stuck in modern-day New York.HitmanStars: Timothy Olyphant, Dougray ScottA religious assassin finds himself trapped between Interpol and the Russian military.I’m Not ThereStars: Christian Bale, Cate BlanchettFilmmaker Todd Haynes (Far From Heaven) explores the life of musician Bob Dylan by sticking eight very different actors in the role.The MistStars: Thomas Jane, Marcia Gay HardenStephen King’s tale of shoppers trapped in a supermarket by extradimensional monsters comes to life.This ChristmasStars: Regina King, Delroy LindoAn all-star African-American cast tries to survive the holidays as the contentious Whitfield family.

The Golden Compass

Nov. 30

AwakeStars: Hayden Christensen, Jessica AlbaA young man suffers from “anesthetic awareness” during surgery and discovers that his doctors plan to murder him.The SavagesStars: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Laura LinneyTwo adult siblings try to cope with the death of their father in this grown-up dramedy.The Diving Bell and the ButterflyStars: Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle SeignerJulian Schnabel (Basquiat) directs this true-life drama about a French magazine editor who suffered a stroke, became totally paralyzed and managed to write his own autobiography.

Dec. 5

JunoStars: Ellen Page, Michael CeraThis much talked-about indie comedy-drama about a teenage gal who gets knocked up and makes an unusual decision about her unborn child comes from the pen of stripper-turned-author Diablo Cody.

Dec. 7

AtonementStars: Keira Knightley, James McAvoyA bitter teen in World War I-era England changes the lives of those around her by accusing her sister’s lover of a crime he didn’t commit.The Golden CompassStars: Nicole Kidman, Daniel CraigThis epic adaptation of Philip Pullman’s sci-fi/fantasy trilogy sends a young girl on a quest across alternate reality England.Grace is GoneStars: John CusackJohn Cusack is stuck in sappy mode as a father who takes his two young girls on a roadtrip after learning his wife has been killed in Iraq.RevolverStars: Jason Statham, Ray LiottaAfter three years in the can, the new gangster thriller by Guy Ritchie (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels; Snatch) may (or may not) be hitting American theaters.

Alvin and the Chipmunks

Dec. 12

The Perfect HolidayStars: Morris Chestnut, Gabrielle UnionA young girl asks a department store Santa to find a new husband for her sexy but divorced mother. I’ll bet you can’t figure out where this is going.

Dec. 14

Alvin and the ChipmunksStars: Jason Lee, David CrossLee follows up the CGI/live-action bastardization of Underdog with this CGI/live-action bastardization of a 50-year-old novelty record.I Am LegendStars: Will SmithIn this third adaptation of Richard Matheson’s sci-fi fright novel, Will Smith stars as a scientist who could well be the last man on Earth (except for all those pesky vampires).The Kite RunnerStars: Khalid AbdallaAfter years living in California, a man returns to his troubled homeland of Afghanistan in this adaptation of Khaled Hosseini’s award-winning novel.Youth Without YouthStars: Tim Roth, Bruno GanzFrancis Ford Coppola returns after 10 years to helm this romantic thriller about a professor who flees the Nazis while searching for the secret of eternal youth.

Persepolis

Dec. 21

National Treasure: Book of SecretsStars: Nicolas Cage, Diane KrugerCage’s history-minded fortune hunter is back, trying to clear the name of an allegedly murderous ancestor by stealing John Wilkes Booth’s secret diary.P.S., I Love YouStars: Hilary Swank, Gerard ButlerA sad widow tries to fulfill a 10-item “to do” list left behind by her dead husband.Sweeney ToddStars: Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham CarterTim Burton (The Nightmare Before Christmas) directs this grisly musical about a murderous, turn-of-the-century barber.Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox StoryStars: John C. Reilly, Jenna FischerJudd Apatow (Superbad) wrote and produced this silly biopic parody, mixing Walk the Line and Forrest Gump.

Dec. 25

Alien vs. Predator: RequiemStars: Steven Pasquale, Shakeera EppsIt’s a bad day in small-town America when Aliens and Predators show up to duke it out once again.The Bucket ListStars: Jack Nicholson, Morgan FreemanNicholson and Freeman are a couple of cute oldsters dying of cancer who decide to cross off a list of crazy things to do before they kick the bucket.Charlie Wilson’s WarStars: Tom Hanks, Julia RobertsA Texas congressman’s covert dealings with ’80s-era Afghani rebel fighters have far-reaching repercussions.The Great DebatorsStars: Denzel Washington, Forest WhitakerWashington stars in and directs this true-life drama about a teacher who inspires his underdog students to form a winning debate team. ... Yeah, it’s another one of those.PersepolisStars: Catherine Deneuve, Sean PennThis stark, animated version of Marjane Satrapi’s autobiographical comic book explores what it was like to grow up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution.The Water HorseStars: Ben Chaplin, Emily WatsonIn this live-action family drama, a lonely Scottish boy finds a magical egg that hatches and grows into the legendary Loch Ness Monster.

The Mist

Dec. 26

There Will Be BloodStars: Daniel Day-Lewis, Paul DanoPaul Thomas Anderson (Boogie Nights) adapts an obscure Upton Sinclair novel about life in the turn-of-the-century Texas oilfields.

Dec. 28

Cassandra’s DreamStars: Colin Farrell, Ewan McGregorWoody Allen directs this sometimes funny drama about two loser brothers who stumble into a life of crime.